Fight For You
by SouthernStars
Summary: No matter what happened tomorrow, no matter where they stood with each other, he would always fight for her. TxG oneshot.


**DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'High School Musical' or any related characters.**

**A/N: Another one-shot from me. Just a little one that I thought of the other day and liked, don't worry I'll get back to 'Convincing You To Fall' as soon as this is done!**

_**Fight For You**_

"Oh my God." Gabriella gasped as she stared in disbelief outside her balcony doors. If it had been anything else she would have been less shocked. Yanking the French doors open, she let the warm breeze wash over her and continued to stare at the sight on her balcony.

"Hey Brie." The person said quietly, as her eyes swept over the black eye that was beginning to form, the trickle of blood that ran down the side of his face from a cut above his right eye, the ripped shirt that was hanging off him and the knuckles that were slowly turning blue.

"Oh my God." She repeated and Troy sighed as she stood in front of him and continued to stare at him incredulously. Maybe it hadn't been a good idea to come to her house after all. It had been his only option after his team had agreed to split up in case the police caught up with them as a group.

"Brie, can I come in?" He asked and Gabriella's eyes snapped from examining the bruise on his side that was made visible because of the tear in his shirt and up to his eyes, which were deadly calm and focused. They frightened her more then when he was angry; she'd only seen the expression once, when one of the boys at her school had pushed her up against a locker.

"Yes. Come on." She said and Troy followed her into her room and glanced at her alarm clock. A quarter to twelve. His parents were going to kill him; his curfew had been forty-five minutes ago. Lowering himself onto her bed, Troy winced as the bruise on his side flared with pain. Looking around he wondered exactly where Gabriella had gotten to, and then sighed and decided he shouldn't push it. It was lucky that she'd even decided to let him come in. He knew that when he told her exactly why he looked like he'd been in a fight, she would be mad. Furious even. Hearing her walk back into the room, Troy looked up, wondered briefly when she'd left, and then noted she was carrying a first aid kit, a bowl of warm water and an ice-pack.

"What are you doing?" He asked as she sat down on the bed next to him. She shot him a brief look, before deciding to answer.

"Cleaning you up." Gabriella replied softly picking up his hand, Gabriella gently placed the ice-pack onto his knuckles and wrapped a bandage around it to keep it secure.

"Brie, you don't have to." Troy said and then quieted when the look she sent him told him that she needed to.

Gabriella was careful as she cleaned his face, she ran the cloth over his forehead and pinpointed the cut when Troy winced, continuing down his face she wiped away the blood that had mingled with dirt on his face and then dropped the cloth back into the tub of warm water. Picking up the first-aid kit Gabriella found a disposable ice-pack and hit where it was directed, when she felt the pack go cold. She handed it to him and Troy held it up to his eye, wincing when the cold pressed against his bruise.

"You're a mess Troy." Gabriella said quietly as she finished placing some tape over the cut on his forehead and Troy wanted to shrug. He didn't, instead he sighed.

"I know." He said quietly and Gabriella looked at him. Her eyes examining her work. Picking up the hand that was wrapped in the bandage she unwound the bandage and took off the ice-pack.

"Your swellings gone down. You mustn't have hit the guy hard enough." She said; her voice sharp and Troy closed his eyes.

"I wondered how long it would take you to figure out what happened." He said, giving her a small smile. Gabriella didn't smile back; instead she stood from the bed and picked up the first-aid kit and the tub of water. Troy watched as she walked into the bathroom that adjoined her room and took the ice-pack off his swelling eye, shifting slightly Troy winced as the pain in his side he'd been ignoring flared.

Gabriella walked to the entryway of her bathroom and stopped. Troy had taken off his torn shirt and was examining the large purple bruise forming on his side. She wanted to help, but stopped herself. Watching him examine the bruise, Gabriella wondered why he had come here. She knew very well that there were other places he could have gone and gotten better treatment then the basic help he'd gotten here. Sighing, Gabriella found her eyes dragging from his side and up his arms to his shoulders, where his muscles rippled whenever he made a movement. For a moment, her mind wandered to when her hands had gripped those shoulders with desperate need and then she shook her head. That was in the past. Looking at him again, Gabriella sighed she knew why he'd come here, instead of going to someone else's house. Here was safe, he'd told her that once, he'd said to her that where ever she was, was the place that was safest to him and just by looking at him Gabriella could tell that being safe had been the most important thing to him after whatever had happened during the fight. Silently, she was glad he'd come to her. Glad that she could touch him without need for an excuse, glad for the reason to allow herself to love him for only a night.

"Who did you get into a fight with?" Gabriella asked softly and Troy turned to look at her, his eyes trailing down her face and over her body, which was covered with a tank top and short shorts.

"Where's your mom?" He replied and watched as Gabriella closed her eyes in frustration. He knew she hated it when he directly avoided a question, but he couldn't tell her. Not yet.

"Away. Her boyfriend took her on a romantic getaway for two." Gabriella replied and Troy nodded, noticing the bitterness in her voice and leaving it at that.

Turning back to the mirror he'd been examining the bruise in, Troy kept his eyes on the girl leaning against the bathroom doorframe. She looked frustrated and he knew why. She was trying to figure out what to do next and he wasn't going to help. A small smile played on his lips as he watched her take her hair out of the ponytail she'd had it in and run her hand down the length of it, her eyes widening slightly when it ended before it was meant to. He hadn't told her he liked her new haircut. In fact, he hadn't told her anything since the party.

Troy sighed and wished silently that they could claim what happened at the party was a mistake. But he couldn't and neither could she. Because they'd both wanted it and they'd both been in complete control when it had happened. He knew very well that they could blame it on whatever was in the drinks at the party, but he hadn't drunk anything when he'd gotten there and neither had she. But when they'd woken up the next morning everything had been different. Whatever had happened the night before didn't stop the panic the morning after. Dragging a hand through his hair, Troy watched as Gabriella moved from the doorframe to her desk, her back to him. No, whatever had happened at the party had been so raw and real that neither had known how to deal with it. Neither had _wanted_ to deal with the sudden change in their friendship, in themselves. So they hadn't. They'd ignored it, chosen to pretend nothing was there and in the process alienated themselves from each other. But that hadn't stopped him from coming to her tonight, that hadn't stopped him from defending her when she'd been threatened. That hadn't stopped him from loving her.

"Are you going to tell me why you got into the fight?" Gabriella asked turning to him, her arms folded tightly across her chest. Troy turned to her and her breath caught in her throat as his eyes met hers. The single-minded intensity in his gaze was slowly stripping Gabriella of her self-composure and the alarm bells that had gone off in her head the moment her eyes had met his, fell into a deafening silence as he slowly moved towards her.

Troy came to a stop in front of her and ignored the way she leant back from him, moving closer to her his body came into contact with hers and chose to ignore the gasp she emitted as he pressed up against her. Raising the hand that wasn't bruised, Troy ran his knuckles down her cheek; his eyes still on hers, the hand ran to her neck and encircled the back of her neck. Her eyes fluttered shut as he lowered his lips to her cheek. His free hand slipping under her tank top to the warm skin beneath, as his lips trailed down her cheek and to her jaw line. His lips continued across her jaw line, up her other cheek and over her closed eye.

Gabriella felt herself melt at the touch of his lips. God, the way he touched her was so intoxicating. She could feel herself aching with need as he kissed her just under bottom lip. She didn't care if it was a mistake, she didn't care that tomorrow when she woke up they'd be back to square one, she didn't care about any of it. She needed him, she wanted him, she loved him. Whether she'd ever tell him was beyond her, but she didn't care as his mouth finally captured hers and her hands slid up his back to curl around his shoulders.

It was just like the first time, Troy thought as he pulled her towards her bed, there was no-one in the world but them. Gabriella moaned softly his lips freed hers and slid down her neck. The hand that had cupped her neck slid down to her stomach and pushed up her shirt. Troy pulled away as she raised her arms above her head and he pulled off her shirt. For a moment they gazed at each other. Both silently asking the other if they wanted to stop. Troy traced Gabriella's lips with the tip of one finger, and then lowered his mouth to hers when neither spoke. Gabriella's hand slid over his side and he winced, her mind flashed to the question she'd asked and then went blissfully blank as he lowered her onto the bed and the need to feel him took over her completely.

HSM-HSM-HSM-HSM-HSM

Troy watched her as she slept. She was curled up against him, her head on his shoulder, his arms wrapped around her. Gently, he ran a finger down her bare shoulder and wondered what she was going to say when she woke up. Pressing kisses to her forehead, Troy decided to not worry and then looked down as she stirred. Her eyes fluttered open and she moved her head to look up at him.

"Hi." He said softly and Gabriella turned her head and pressed her lips to his shoulder before looking back at him.

"Hi." She replied and then reached up and touched the bruise that surrounded his eye. Troy winced slightly as her fingertips trailed over it lightly and then kissed her fingers when they trailed down to his mouth.

"What happened to you Troy?" She asked as her hand trailed down his neck and then flattened out on his chest. Troy sighed and knew that he owed her the truth.

"Me and some of the guys were at the park and some West High guys showed up. We ignored them at first because Dad threatened to bench us if we got into a fight with them and then Chad said something obnoxious and one of them retaliated." Troy said and Gabriella nodded and then looked up at him expectantly, waiting for the rest of the story. When it didn't come, she raised her eyebrows.

"That doesn't explain how you got a black eye. What else happened?" She asked and Troy sighed, he moved Gabriella off him and sat up, he stretched and wasn't surprised when he felt Gabriella's chin on his shoulder and her arms wrapping around him from behind. Turning his head, he kissed her forehead and closed his eyes.

"We started the brawl. We were walking away when," Troy blew out a breath. "When they said something about you. It doesn't matter what they said Brie; it was the fact that they said something about _you_." Troy said when he opened his eyes and saw the look on her face. Before she could say anything he continued. "I was the first one to stop and they continued talking, not just about you but about Taylor, Kelsi, Sharpay, any of the girls they knew were close to us and who we cared about they had a go at. The last straw was when they said your name again; they didn't even get to say the rest because my fist was already in the guy's mouth. Chad was behind me." Troy said and Gabriella didn't know what to say. All it had taken was her name for him to turn around and punch a guy? Even after the weeks of distance and forced politeness?

"What about after that? Why did you come here?" Gabriella asked and Troy shrugged.

"Someone at the park called the cops and we had to split up. Zeke went to Sharpay's, Chad went to Taylor's, Ryan was there and he went to Kelsi's, I'm not sure where the rest of the guys went. But the only place I wanted to come was here." Troy said quietly and Gabriella kissed his shoulder gently. They were both silent for a moment and then she spoke.

"Why did you snap because they said my name? We've barely spoken in weeks and now you tell me that you got into a fight over me? What's with that Troy?" She didn't sound harsh, Gabriella knew that she couldn't have even if she'd wanted to, she was curious. She wanted to know why he had been the first one to retaliate, why it had only taken them speaking her name again for him to lose control of his temper and hit somebody.

Troy didn't answer straight away. Instead, he picked up one of her hands that was resting on his stomach and kissed the back of it. Enjoying the fragrance of her skin and the softness when his lips touched it. Twisting, Troy pushed Gabriella back down onto her back and hovered above her, his lips teasing hers gently for a moment before he balanced himself on his forearms and looked down at her.

"Because Brie, no matter what happens between us, no matter how many times we do something we consider a mistake and can't face each other for the weeks afterwards. No matter how many times you yell at me for being late, whether it's for the musical practice or picking you up. No matter what happens between us Brie, whenever someone says something about you that I don't agree with, whenever someone humiliates you to your face, whenever someone calls you something, I will fight for you. Whether it's in the middle of the park at eleven o'clock at night or the middle of the day in the cafeteria. I will _always_ fight for you." Troy said softly and Gabriella looked up into his blue eyes and knew what he saw was true. No matter what happened between them in the future, no matter what happened tomorrow, he would always be the one who would fight for her.

**A/N: Done! It didn't turn out exactly as I had planned, but I think it turned out all right. Oh well, I hope you all enjoyed it! **


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